When the Trickster Runs Out of Tricks
by Arya Daeriel
Summary: While on their way back from a simple diplomatic mission to Alfheim, Loki and Thor are ambushed. Amidst the fighting, the trickster runs out of tricks.


**Disclaimer: Don't own, never have, never will.**

**A/N: And here we have yet another fic of mine. But this time for a new fandom! I'm watching Thor for the second time in two days right now and the most wonderful, wonderful idea! Now er….. before I start, you have to know that I didn't really see Loki as evile. I only saw him as the least favorite son, always trying to be worthy of his title as son of Odin. Er…. and and unless you don't figure that out, this takes place before the movie. Okays? Good! Now, proceed! **

Thor grinned as he smashed through another of his enemy. He could see Sif, and the Warriors Three fighting others around him. Loki meanwhile was standing at the edge of a cliff as one of the monsters charged towards him. It could almost be called Loki's signature trick. If there was a cliff or a precipice of some sort nearby, he would create a duplicate of himself and appear to stand at the edge, having nowhere to go.

The son of Odin turned and swung his hammer into another creature, almost laughing as he did so. Oh, how he enjoyed these battles. He spun back around just in time to see their current enemy barrel into Loki's duplicate. But instead of the usual flickering out of the clone of sorts, a cry issued from it's mouth as it was shoved off the edge and began tumbling down the rocky terrain that led to the bottom.

It was then that Thor realized that this had been no trick of his brother's. A cry tore from Thor's lips. "Brother!" He slew his current foe with a quick swing of his hammer and dashed over to the edge of the cliff Loki had been pushed over.

The fall was not long, but it was treacherous. At the bottom Thor could see his brother, laying spread eagle on the ground, with the body of his enemy lying on top of him. Thor turned his head back to where his friends were still fighting. The battle was almost won, they did not need him to be there at the moment.

With a leap, Thor landed beside the unconscious form of his brother. He immediately slid his hands underneath the creature pinning Loki to the ground and pulled it off him as if it weighed no more than a feather. He then knelt down beside Loki's head. It was covered in scrapes and there was a trickle of blood running from one corner of his mouth.

"Loki? Brother?" Thor asked, but Loki remained unconscious.

"Thor! We have-….. What happened?" The shout came from above at the edge of the cliff. Thor looked up to see Volstagg standing there looking down upon them.

"He fell," Thor said. Soon, Sif, Hogun, and Fandral had joined the large warrior at the edge of the cliff. Sif immediately slid down to join Thor, kneeling next to Loki with him.

"We need to get back to Asgard," Sif said after running her eyes over Loki. It was fairly logical to guess that he at least had sustained a few broken ribs, if not a few other broken bones. She looked back at the cliff face and all the rocks that were scattered across it. And chances were a gash or two would not be surprising.

Thor nodded and slid his arms under his brother so as to lift him up, but as his hand slid along Loki's lower back, he felt something warm, sticky, and wet. He pulled back his hand to see his fingers were coated in a red substance, blood. Turning Loki over, he followed the blood to the wound it was spreading from.

The source of the blood was a wound in Loki's side. It was easy to see that it had not been caused by his fall though, for the wound was not jagged, but rather like that of a knife. So Loki had been injured before he fell, it seemed. This newfound discovery, however, just made it more urgent that they get him back to Asgard immediately.

Thor pulled a knife from his belt and used it to tear a strip of fabric from Loki's cloak. He would have used his own except for the fact that it had been ripped off during the battle and was currently lying amid piles of bodies. Loki was going to kill him for this, seeing as how much he loved his cloak. That was probably the reason why he always managed to keep it clean and still attached during the fiercest of battles.

He wadded the fabric up and pressed it again the wound in an attempt to stem the flow of blood before again sliding his hands underneath Loki's body. Thor lifted his brother into his arms and then turned to his friends.

"As I believe the Lady Sif said a few minutes ago, we need to get back to Asgard," he said before flying into the sky and landing atop the cliff. The five of them ran towards the Bifrost and before they even reached it, Thor was calling out for Heimdall to open it, betraying his worry for his brother.

Sensing their urgency, Heimdall quickly opened the Bifrost, pulling them back to Asgard. The gatekeeper almost did not see Thor as he flew past him, literally, in his haste to get to the healing room. Instead he turned to the other four who did not have Thor's ability to fly and were, at the moment, slightly out of breath from running.

"What happened?" he asked, for something must have to make Thor act so.

It was Fandral that answered. "It's Loki. He was stabbed and then fell off a cliff."

If had not been a serious matter, the way Fandral had said it might have been amusing.

"Ah…." Heimdall nodded. "One of the Silver Tongue's tricks finally went wrong."

Fandral nodded. The four of them having caught their breath bid farewell to the gatekeeper and left to join Thor.

Thor meanwhile had just crashed into the healing rooms. The healer present looked up as Thor entered and blinked. Then upon seeing what was being held in Thor's arms, he immediately rushed to prepare a bed, yelling for his fellow healers. Thor carefully set Loki down on the prepared bed then turned to the healer that had been there first.

"I need to find my father and inform as of what has happened. If _anything _out of the ordinary happens, you are to find me immediately. Understand?" Thor said, his voice almost menacing. He just wanted to get the point across that he did not want anything happening to his brother while he was gone.

"Yes, my lord," the healer answered. Thor then turned on his heel and left the room in search of his father. He finally found him sitting on a balcony eating a slightly late lunch.

"Thor!" he exclaimed upon seeing him. "Back so soon from the negotiations with Alfeim? It must have gone well to have gone so quickly!"

However, Odin was still facing the edge of the balcony, he had not yet seen the blood and gore that stained his clothes.

"Unfortunately Father, it was quite the contrary," Thor said. It was then that Odin turned in surprise at Thor's words. The AllFather was slightly shocked as he took in Thor's appearance.

"I suppose it went the other direction then?" Then after a pause. "Where is your brother?"

Addressing his father's latter question first, for it was the reason he had come to find him and the one that needed answering more, Thor said, "He is in the healing rooms. As we left Alfheim, we were ambushed by what was probably a group of rogues, and some time during the fight he was stabbed in the side. I was fighting my own battle when I saw Loki at the edge of one of the cliffs. You know how he loves that trick, who knows how many times he has played it on us. Except it wasn't a trick and he was pushed over the edge."

Odin sank back down in the seat he had vacated moments before. "How badly was he hurt?"

"I do not know. I came to tell you what had happened before the healers had fully examined him. A few broken bones would not surprise me seeing as how treacherous that cliff face was even if it was not that high."

"And what of Sif and the Warriors Three?"

"As far as I know, they are well."

Just then the doors to the balcony flew open and a panting servant stumbled through.

"My lords," he gasped, "the healer sent me. Loki has awoken."

The young servant pressed himself against the door as the father and son flew past him. In the hallway leading to the healing room, Thor almost crashed into Sif in his haste. Sif blinked and stepped back a pace so as to avoid a collision.

"Thor!" she exclaimed. "And You Majesty." She gave a slight bow upon seeing Odin arrive slightly behind Thor. "I was just going to see how Loki was."

"You should join us then as we were just going there ourselves. We were just informed that Loki has awoken."

Together, the three of them headed down the hallway. When they reached the door to the healing room, it was opened to reveal the healer that had first been there when Thor had brought Loki in. Sometimes the God of Thunder couldn't help but wonder how exactly he always knew when someone was waiting outside the door.

The healer slipped out and closed the door behind him.

"How is my son?" Odin asked. "I was told he had awoken."

"He did for a few minutes, but he is asleep now."

"And his injuries?" Thor put in.

The healer knew better than to prolong his report of the younger prince's injuries.

"Along with the stab wound to his side, he managed to sustained three broken ribs with two others cracked, and there was a sliver of rock embedded in his leg. Not to mention scrapes and bruises covering his body. That was quite a fall he took."

"Can we see him?"

"Of course," the healer replied. "Try not to wake him though."

"I'll wait here," Sif said, not wanting to intrude upon what would be a family moment.

The healer moved aside and Odin and Thor entered the healing room, immediately hurrying towards towards the bed upon which Loki lay. He was stripped from the waist up, his pale skin appearing even paler against the white sheets. There was a white bandage on his stomach, covering the stab wound and an ointment on the deeper scrapes.

The two of them looked down upon his still form and Odin gently brushed a strand of his son's dark hair back from his face. "Oh, Loki…"

"It's my fault, Father," Thor said, looking at the floor. He felt that it really was his fault. If he had realized that it was no trick of Loki's, he could have killed the foe before he hit Loki, sending him off the cliff.

"No, Thor," Odin said, placing a hand on his oldest son's shoulder. "You could not have done anything to prevent this."

"But I could have! If only I had realized what was happening….. "

"You know the risks that come with battle, my son. Misfortune can befall anyone and it is the fault of none."

Thor nodded. "I know, Father." He sat down on the bed parallel to Loki's.

"I must go," Odin said, "I am supposed to be meeting with my advisors in ten minutes."

"Alright, I am going to stay, if you do not mind."

"Of course not. Shall I send Sif in?"

"Please do."

Odin left the healing room and moments later Sif entered. She took a seat beside Thor on the bed.

"Where are Hogun, Volstagg, and Fandral?" Thor asked his longtime friend.

"Cleaning up still, I suppose," she answered. "And they say that women take longer than men to get ready!"

Thor let out a light chuckle. "Then I believe you are an exception."

Sif smiled at him then turned her gaze back to the bed on which Loki lay. "How is he?"

"You heard what the healer said. His injuries are not life threatening, but I cannot help but worry for him," Thor replied.

"It is only natural. He is your brother, after all."

Sif sat with him for a while longer, conversing occasionally before standing up. "I think that I shall go and see what those three have gotten up to."

"Chances are, Volstagg is eating the kitchens clean, Fandral is telling a glorified version of the battle to few ladies, and Hogun is….. well, I do not know what Hogun would be doing. Sharpening his blades, mayhap," Thor speculated.

"I would not be surprised!" Sif said with a small laugh.

She left the room and Thor was alone with his unconscious brother. The crown prince of Asgard moved from his seat on the bed across from Loki's to sitting on the edge his brother's bed. So this, he supposed, was what happened when the trickster runs out of tricks. Because that had been what happened to Loki. He had been driven into a corner, a corner where no tricks he possessed would save him.

Loki's method of combat had always been one that was….. well, not deemed very heroic. He achieved his ends and defeated his enemies through trickery and magic, not strength and weapons. But, Thor thought, it fit his brother. Loki did not have the brawn that he and the Warriors Three possessed, so he would have to rely on his wits and tricks. As he saw before him though, even magic was not infallible.

A groan and the rustling of sheets pulled Thor back to reality. Thor looked down to see Loki's eyelids flutter open.

"Thor?" Loki questioned, looking up at his brother through slightly bleary eyes.

"I am here brother," Thor said, grasping Loki's hand lightly, a small display of brotherly affection.

"What happened? Where am I? Where is father?" The questions streamed from Loki's mouth as he tried to sit up. About half way up, he stopped and fell back upon the pillows with a gasp of pain as the wound in his side and his broken ribs were aggravated.

"Shh, brother," Thor said putting a hand on his brother's chest in case he tried to rise again. "All is well."

Loki turned his head and looked around the room. Recognizing it, he said, "We are back in Asgard?"

"Yes," Thor confirmed. "In case you don't remember, you managed to fall off a cliff." Thor tried to make the matter slightly joking.

Loki however looked rather ashamed than amused and Thor realized why. It was exactly as he had been thinking earlier, Loki only had his wits and magic and if those failed, no strength to back it up. This time it had failed and Loki appeared to think that others would be disappointed about that fact.

"Even the trickster can run out of tricks, Loki." Thor quoted his thoughts from earlier.

"But without my tricks, what am I?"

"You are still my brother, tricks or no," Thor reassured him.

Loki smiled slightly at him then changed the subject. "What happened after I fell?"

"Nothing too exciting in fact. Whatever creatures we were ambushed by had almost been defeated when you fell. We then brought you back to Asgard as quickly as possible."

"You almost sound as if you were worried about me," Loki said, grinning.

"Now why would I do that? Such a thing as worry…." Thor shook his head in mock distaste. He sobered though. "You are my brother, of course I was worried about you."

"So tell me brother, how badly am I injured that has got you acting like a princess?" Loki asked with a slight smirk.

"Do _not _call me a princess," Thor growled at him.

"Princess," Loki said again, snickering slightly.

Thor glared at him and Loki's snicker developed into a laugh. A few seconds later however, the laugh turned to coughing as Loki doubled over, clutching his chest. "You could have told me I broke a few ribs," he gasped.

"Sorry," Thor said guiltily, helping Loki lie back down. Loki closed his eyes, his breathing evening out. After several minutes of silence, Thor guessed that his brother had fallen asleep and made to leave. Loki's hand shot out and caught his arm though.

"Don't leave. Please," Loki whispered, his eyes still closed.

"Loki, I need to remove my armor and change my clothes," Thor said.

"I'm sorry…. I know you have other things to do…" The hand fell away, returning to the Trickster's side.

However, Thor did not continue to leave as Loki had expected, but retook his seat on the edge of Loki's bed. "You're my brother, I'll always be here for you," Thor said, gripping his brother's hand in his own.

Loki's lips turned up in a small smile. "Thank you."

_Not too many years later…_

Loki walked the streets of a small New Mexico town, cloaked in invisibility. Odin had fallen into the Odinsleep mere hours before and he, Loki, now knew who and what he truly was. To put it simply, the trickster needed somebody to talk to, somebody to tell him it was going to be alright.

He came to what appeared to be a diner and could see his brother through a window. He was eating pancakes, sitting at a table with two young women. His brother had always attracted the ladies, he certainly had not lost that power. But there he was, surrounded by people who liked and loved him as he always was.

Thor looked happy despite having been stripped of his powers and status, he would not be thinking of how Loki was fairing in his absence. Loki turned away, walking back down the street. He could go into that diner, call Thor away from his friends, talk to him, but he wouldn't. If there had been one person on Asgard that hated the Frost Giants, it was Thor, and if Loki told his brother that was one of the creatures he so hated… the one person that truly mattered would think of Loki as a monster.

No, he could not talk to Thor, he would have to make his way through this himself somehow. This time, his brother would not be there for him.

**Wow….. I started this fic right after I watched the movie on May 7th and I didn't get around to finishing it until now….. I's believe this is the longest oneshot/chapter I've ever written….. Er.. and Vale Germanus should be getting it's second chapter soon, and hopefully all my other Thor fics that are in progress (I have about five of them) will eventually get finished. Nows! It's time for you to place your reviews in the Loki helmet! *holds out helmet for reviews***


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